Mute
by Cap't Mo
Summary: Derek has a 17 yr old niece that is sent to live with him after she her parents are killed. She doesn't talk and Derek doesn't know what to do. She leaves when things become tough but she doesn't know that the man that killed her parents is now after her


**I know that I should be working on my other stories but I've had this in my head for awhile now and I wanted to get it out. This is my first Criminal Minds Fanfiction so I hope it's good. I don't own CM or the characters in it but I do own Tony and Megan.**

_Thinking_

_Signing and writing_

**Chapter One**

**Megan's P.O.V**

"The team should be back in a few hours. They just need to get their things and get on the jet." the blond tech analyst said as she showed me into her work area.

I nodded even though her back was turned to me. She turned around and watched me for a moment before speaking again. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

I shook my head.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

"Do you talk?"

I shook my head, _not anymore_, I thought.

"How am I supposed to talk to you then?"

I shrugged. _You talk, I listen. Just don't expect an answer_.

The blond sighed and heavily, "From what the agent said when you were dropped off, your name is Megan, right?"

A nod.

"And you're related to Morgan?"

Another nod.

"Can I know why you're here?"

I moved the folder that she was eyeing behind me. I knew that she would find out what happened eventually but I wasn't going to be the one to show or tell her. She sighed but nodded anyways. "I understand. Why don't you sit down and relax. You can even take a little nap if you want to. I'll wake you up when the team gets here."

I nodded and moved to the couch that she had pointed out. Why she had a couch in this small room, I had no idea. Sitting down, I put the folder in my lap and my backpack on the floor next to the couch. My whole story was in the folder, everything up until last week when everything went wrong. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I wanted to sleep, _needed _it, but every time I closed my eyes, I relived that night over and over again.

Unfortunately, my exhaustion and the rhythmic tapping of the blonde's fingers on the keyboard slowly lulled me to sleep. I tried to brace myself for the nightmare that was sure to come as I closed my eyes.

_**(Nightmare)**_

"_Megan, honey, I know that you were looking forward to having the house to yourself tonight, but your dad and I aren't going out for our date tonight like originally planned. We're just going to stay home since your dad had a long day at work." my mom said as I filled up a glass with some water. _

"_Okay, I'm most likely going to be in my room for the rest of the night anyways."_

"_Okay, do you want me to make dinner for the three of us?"_

"_No, you can make it just for you and dad. That way it's still like a date. I'll make something later for myself."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah, have fun." I said, heading out of the kitchen. I smiled at my mom's laughter behind me._

_My parents always had at least one date night a month but with my dad's work getting busier and busier, they kept having to either postpone or cancel them. I was glad that they were finally able to do something, even if it was at home. _

_Once I was in my room, I headed over to my desk and got on my computer. It wasn't long before I was logged onto Facebook and chatting with my friends. It wasn't until my parents were going to bed that I realized how much time had passed. I hadn't even gotten anything to eat, but I wasn't really hungry. Signing off Facebook, I quickly got ready fro bed. After going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I closed my bedroom door and made my way to my bed. Getting under the covers, I laid down and waited for sleep to take me. I knew it was going to be awhile since I was wide awake at the moment. _

_Rolling over, I looked at my clock, 11:47 pm. I sighed, _so glad that it's Friday_. Rolling back over, I looked out my window, watching the stars as I finally, slowly drifted to sleep. _

_My eyes snapped open. Something had woken me up but I didn't know what. I couldn't hear anything and I don't remember having a nightmare. I listened for a moment more before deciding that it had been nothing. Closing my eyes, I waited for sleep to take me back._

Creak.

_My eyes snapped open again. Maybe it wasn't nothing. I waited silently, listening for another sound. A minute later, another creak went off. Someone was moving slowly down the hallway. There was no way that it could have been one of my parents because they wouldn't be walking slowly down the hall, and, they don't usually get up after they go to bed unless an alarm goes off. _

_Getting up, I slowly made my way to my door. From where the creaks were coming from, whoever was in the house was already past my bedroom. They were heading towards the master bedroom. If someone was going to break in, in the middle of the night, why would they go past one bedroom on the way to the other one? Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my door and looked out into the hallway._

_A black, shadowy, man-like figure was just going into my parent's bedroom. Going against my better judgment, I followed the figure. Walking along the wall, I made sure to not step on the wooden planks that I knew creaked. Surprisingly, I made it to my parent's bedroom door without making a sound. Looking into the room, I saw the figure standing over my mom's side of the bed. He had what looked like a bat in one hand and a gun in the other. I stood rock still as the bat was lifted and quickly brought down. I flinched at the sound it made when my mom's skull was crushed. He brought the bat down multiple times before my dad started to stir. The man stopped and watched as my dad slowly woke up and looked at my mom's body. _

"_Sarah! Sarah! Please, no! Why did you do this? What did we do to you?" my dad asked frantically as he sat up._

_Instead of responding, the man brought the gun up and pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. I jerked back as the man chuckled. By jerking back, I accidentally stepped onto a loose floorboard which creaked under my weight. The man whipped around and stared at me. He didn't say anything at first, just started walking towards me real slowly. "Don't worry, kiddo. It won't hurt, much."_

_My eyes widened at what he said. Turning around, I started running down the hall and down the stairs. I could hear him behind me and I sped up, trying to get to the front door before me. Reaching the front door, I turned the handle and attempted to open the door. It didn't budge. "No, no! This can't be happening." I mumbled, tugging at the door. "Come on, open!"_

"_It's not going to work." his voice said from behind me as I felt his arms go around my waist._

_I screamed…_

_**(End Nightmare)**_

__And sat straight up. I closed my eyes mouth when I realized that I was screaming in real life and not just in my dream. My breathing was fast and my heart was beating quickly. The blond tech analyst was staring at me with wide eyes. I attempted to slow my breathing as she made her way towards me. She sat down next to me on the couch and rubbed my shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"

I nodded quickly.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded again, this time slightly slower.

"Nightmare?"

Another nod.

"About your parents?"

My breath hitched as I nodded.

"Hey, calm down," she soothed, still running my shoulder, "Do you want some hot cocoa?"

I gave her a confused look.

"My parents would make me hot cocoa when I had nightmares as a kid. It would calm me down. So, do you want any?"

I thought for a moment before giving her a small smile and nodding.

"Okay. You just hang out right here and I'll be back in a minute with the best hot cocoa you have ever had."

I chuckled quietly as I watched her leave the room. She seemed really bubbly even though she had gotten stuck with a teenager that won't talk to her. Soon enough, she was back with a steaming cup of cocoa. She handed it over and watched me as I blew on it so that it was somewhat cooler when I took a drink. We sat there in silence as I drank the hot cocoa. Just as I was finishing the drink, there was knock on the door before it opened. "Garcia, why did you insist on having me stop by here before going home? You know this case took a lot of energy out of all of us."

My uncle stopped when he saw my sitting on the couch. I looked down at my hands as I heard him walk towards me. He must have knelt down in front of me because he put a hand on my chin and raised my face to look at him. "Megan? What are you doing here? Do Sarah and Tony know you're here?"

At the mention of my parents' names, my eyes started to water. Leaning over, I grabbed the folder from where is had fallen on the floor during my nightmare. Handing it over, I looked back down at my hands while he read what was in the folder. It didn't take him as long to read it as I thought it would. Soon, I felt his hand on my chin, pushing it up so that I was looking him again. "This man, was he ever caught?"

I shook my head. Reaching forward, I pushed the first few pages away, revealing a hand written note. I tapped the note and looked back down as he read it. He tensed as he read it. "That bastard is till out there?"

I nodded.

"So you're here just because I'm in the FBI?"

Another nod.

"Have you talked at all since the murders?"

I shook my head.

"How do they expect me to talk care of a teenager that doesn't talk?" he mumbled to himself.

I sat there as my uncle continued to mumble himself about what he was going to do with me. Looking around the room, I noticed that the blond, Garcia, had left us alone to talk. "Megan?"

My head moved so that I was staring at my uncle again. I raised my eyebrow.

"If you don't talk, then how do you communicate with people?"

I held up my hands and moved my fingers.

"Sign language?"

I nodded.

"Do you know a lot of sign language?"

I smiled before singing, "_Yes_."

He signed, "Okay. How about we head to my place and get you settled in? we can talk more tomorrow."

I nodded.

"Is this all the stuff you have?" he asked, motioning to where my backpack was lying on the floor.

Another nod.

"Okay, follow me." he grabbed my bag and stood up. He waited until I was standing too before he made his way to the door. I followed him silently, keeping my gaze on the floor. I only looked up when there was a gasp and we stopped. There were four other people standing with Garcia around some desks. My uncle tensed, "Hotch…"

"It's okay, Morgan. We can talk about this later. We have the next few days off, guaranteed to cases. Stay home, that's an order." a dark haired man said, giving my uncle a hard look.

"Thanks, Hotch."

We started walking again, not stopping until we were outside and standing next to a black SUV. My uncle went to the driver's side and I made my way to the passenger side. My backpack was thrown into the back seat and the car was started. Neither of us said anything as we began to head to my uncle's house. "Before we get home, I want to set some ground rules. 1) Don't call me Uncle Morgan or Uncle Derek when you decide to start talking. Just stick with Derek or Morgan. 2) The only room that you can decorate with teen posters is your bedroom. And 3) I will not buy you 'things' when it's that time of the month. I will give you the money for it but you will have to go into the store to get them, okay?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Do you have a cell phone?"

I shook my head.

"I'll need to get you one them, in case you need to get a hold of me at some point."

We both became silent as we continued to the house. Soon enough, Derek pulled up in front of a small two story house. "This is it" Derek said as he got out of the SUV. He grabbed my backpack as I got out and walked around the front of the car. "Come on, let's get you settled in. I'm sure you're going to like Clooney."

I looked at him, confused.

"He's my dog." he answered at my look.

_Oh._

"He likes most people so you shouldn't have a problem."

I nodded and followed Derek as he walked up the porch steps to the front door. As soon as the key was in the lock, barking went off from somewhere in the house. Derek chuckled and turned to me, "You ready?"

I shrugged.

He opened the door and held it open for me as I stepped forward. Once we were in the house, he closed the door and stood slightly behind and to the right of me. He whistled once before waiting. Within seconds, I heard the clicking of claws on the hard wood floor. I must have tensed slightly because Derek put a hand on my shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, his bark is worse than his bite."

Suddenly, a German Sheppard rounded the corner and came barreling at us. It tried to slow down as it got closer to us but his claws were sliding on the on the floor and he bumped into my legs. In no time his tail was wagging so hard that his backend was moving with it. Derek laughed as I leaned down to pet Clooney. "He's only a guard dog when someone he doesn't know comes in here without me. Since you came inside with me, he thinks you're safe."

I nodded and stood up. Derek was putting his black bag on the floor nest to the door while he kept a hold of mine. Clooney left us, heading back to wherever he had come from. Derek headed down the hallway after him, speaking over his shoulder, "Come on, I'll show you where your room will be. It's kind of bland right now because I rarely use it but we can go to the store tomorrow if you want so that we can get you some clothes. We can also buy some paint and a bedspread. Once everything is painted the way you want it, we can go out and get some things to decorate the room. Okay?" He stopped and turned around so that he could see me nod. "We're also going to have to work on the whole not talking thing. What other ways do you communicate besides texting and signing?"

I brought my hands up and acted like I was writing on one hand with the other.

"Writing? As in a notebook or on a whiteboard?"

I nodded.

"Do you have these already?"

I pointed to my backpack as I nodded.

He opened my backpack and brought out the notebook and whiteboard that were in there. The notebook was one that I had used for school at one point so it was missing most of it's pages and the whiteboard was one that I had gotten when I was younger and the markers that were with it barely worked anymore. Derek looked them over before putting them back. "We can get you more notebooks and a new whiteboard and markers tomorrow."

I nodded and he turned around and continued walking. We went up the stairs and he opened the first door on our right. Derek walked inside and I followed him. He set my backpack on the bed and turned back to me. "I'll let you get used to this for a little bit. I'll be downstairs making us something to eat. Okay?"

I nodded and he nodded back before leaving me alone in my new room. The walls were painted a dull gray color that didn't help my mood at all. There was an old dresser with peeling paint against one wall. The bed was just a simple wooden base with a mattress on top. You could tell that this room was decorated by a bachelor because nothing matched, at all. Even all the sheets and blankets on the bed didn't match. I had no idea how I was going to deal with staying with Derek. I had always heard my parents talking about how much of a ladies man he was. How was he supposed to care of me? How long was I going to be staying with him?

Letting out a silent sigh, I stood up, grabbing my notebook and a pen, and left my new room. Going back downstairs, I followed the smell of popcorn towards the kitchen. Derek was leaning against the counter while the popcorn finished popping in the microwave. There was already one bowl filled with popcorn waiting on the counter. I didn't make myself known for a little bit, I just watched him. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment, I knocked on the counter to let him know I was there. He jumped a little bit, startled, "Oh, I didn't know you were down here. Is popcorn okay? It's kind of late to be eating a big meal."

I nodded.

He stood up straight and headed towards the fridge. "What do you want to drink?"

"_What kind of pop do you have?" _I wrote.

Derek stared at me for a moment before replying, "Coke, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper."

"_Dr. Pepper."_

He nodded and grabbed a pop and beer from the fridge. I shook my head at him as him open the beer after giving me my pop. "What? I'm a grown man and this last case was more stressful than usual."

I shrugged as he stopped the microwave and took the bag of popcorn out. He emptied the bad out into a bowl before handing it to me. I had to put my notebook under my arm so that I would be able to carry my bowl of popcorn and my pop can without spilling anything as I followed Derek into the living room. Clooney was laying on the floor in front if the couch. He stood up and stared at us after we sat down. "You're not going to get any popcorn, Clooney, so I suggest you go back to sleeping." Derek said as Clooney moved closer to my popcorn bowl. It seemed like Clooney glared at him before laying back down like Derek had said to do.

I wasn't long before my eyes were attempting to close as I watched TV with Derek. He must have noticed because he put a hand on my shoulder, "Come on, I'll get you some old clothes of mine that you an sleep in tonight, okay?"

I nodded and stood up, leaving my popcorn bowl and my pop can on the coffee table. Once upstairs, Derek went down the hall towards his room while I went into mine, going straight for my bed. I sat down on it while I waited for Derek to get back with some clothes for me to sleep in. Soon enough, he was walking back into my room holding a pair of gray sweatpants and an old sweatshirt. "Will these be okay? They'll be big on you but it's the best I could find."

I nodded.

"The bathroom is across from the hall." he said, handing me the clothes.

I nodded and took the clothes from him. He left my room and I headed across the hall to the bathroom. Once I had changed, I grabbed my dirty clothes and headed back to my room. I set my clothes down next to the dresser before getting in bed. The last thing that I thought before closing my eyes was, _I hope I don't have another nightmare_.

**Derek's P.O.V**

After I left Megan to change into my old clothes, I headed downstairs to start cleaning up the little mess we had made. Megan had left her pop can and her popcorn bowl on the coffee table when she had gone to bed. Putting her pop can in her bowl, I then stacked her bowl on top of mine so that I could more easily take them to the kitchen. Throwing away the pop can, I but the bowls in the dishwasher before making my way back into the living room. Flopping down on the couch, I kicked my legs up and picked up my half empty beer bottle. I was just going to finish my beer before I went to bed, but I needed to thin about some things, too. How was I supposed to take care of a teenager that didn't talk? I don't know anything about kids. I groaned and closed my eyes, there were so many questions going through my head. What would happened when the man that killed Sarah and Tony was caught? Would he ever be caught? Was I the only watching her because I was in the FBI? Does mom and Desiree know what had happened? I'd have to call them in the morning and find out about that.

Drinking what was left of my beer, I got up and headed to the kitchen where I threw the bottle away and started turning off lights. After making sure that all the lights on the first floor were off, I put Clooney in his bed before finally going upstairs. I looked in on Megan as I passed her door. She was curled u in a ball in the center of her bed, fast asleep. You would never guess that she had to watch both her parents being murdered n front of her when she was asleep. She looked younger then her 17 years. I sighed and closed the door a little more.

One of the papers that had been in the folder that Megan had given me had said that Megan had nightmares almost every time she fell asleep. I should have expected that for later but I was hoping that this might be one time that she had no nightmares.

An ear-piercing shriek broken off by a sob woke me up a few hours later. Grabbing my gun, I ran down the hallway to Megan's room. Pushing the door open, I looked around for an intruder but found none. Instead, I found Megan struggling with an invisible force in her bed. Tucking my gun into the waistband of my pants, I hurried over to her bed. Sitting down, I gently took her arms and tried o carefully pin them down so that she wouldn't hurt herself or me. Her struggles got stronger because of this. "Come on Megan, it's just me. No one is going to hurt you."

My voice seemed to help so I continued to talk to her. "It's okay, Megan, I'm here. Nothing is going to happen you." As Megan's struggles stopped, I brought her into my lap and held her tightly, rubbing her back. I knew she had woken up when I felt her slide her arms around me and her sobs got louder. I started to rock her back and forth like my mom used to do when I was younger and had a nightmare. Soon, her sobs slowly quieted and she pulled back to wipe her eyes. "You okay?" I asked.

Megan nodded.

"Are you sure?"

Another nod.

"Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?"

She shook her head.

I sighed, "Okay, you can go downstairs and watch TV if you want then. I'm going to get a few more hours of sleep before we go shopping, okay?"

She nodded and slowly stood up, leaving the room. I herd her go down the stairs and turn the TV on. I sat there for a moment, thinking. More and more questions were popping up as time went on. What would I do with Megan when I had to leave on a case? What school would Megan go to? Raising a kid was hard with my job, how did JJ and Hotch manage to do it?

Getting up, I left Megan's room and went back to mine. I took my gun out of the waistband of my pants and set it back on the small table that was nest to my bed. Lying down, I closed my eyes and hoped for a few hours of peaceful sleep before I needed to get up.

**~Time Jump~**

Sloppy, wet kisses were planted all over my face, waking me up instantly. I groaned and pushed Clooney's snout away. "Get off my bed, Clooney." There was a clap and Clooney jumped off my bed. I opened my eyes and saw Clooney sitting next to Megan. Megan was leaning against the doorframe with a whiteboard under her arm. She was wearing a jean skirt, a tight black v-neck and black boots. She also had a black fingerless glove on her right hand. "What's the glove for?"

She scribbled on the board and then erased it with the glove.

"Oh, what time is it?"

"_Just after 11."_

Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I asked, getting up and going over to my dresser.

"_You looked like you could use some sleep. And I lost kinda lost track of time."_

"Okay, I'll take a quick shower and then we can get going." Megan nodded and was about to turn away when I spoke up again. "Megan, do you have any other pants you can wear?"

"_Only the ones that I wore yesterday, why?"_

"That skirt is a little short, don't you think?"

"_No, mom and dad let me wear it all the time."_

"Oh okay. I'll go take a shower then."

Megan rolled her eyes as she turned away. As she walked down the hall, she tapped her leg and Clooney got up and hurried after her. It seemed like she had taught Clooney some hand motions that she could use to get him to do things. Going into my bedroom, I quickly stripped and got in the shower. Soon enough, I was dressed and heading down the stairs. I found Megan and Clooney sitting next to each other on the couch. "You seem to have stolen my dog."

She quickly scribbled something down on her whiteboard before turning around. _"He just likes me better."_

"How can he like you better? You've only known him a day!" she shrugged. "Whatever. Is it okay of I call Garcia so she can come shopping with us? She loves shopping and I have no idea where to take you since I'm not a girl."

"_Is she the blond tech analyst?"_

"Yeah."

"_Okay."_

I nodded and left the living room to call Garcia. She answered on the first ring. "Why is my chocolate god calling me on his day off?"

"Hey baby girl, I'm taking Megan shopping for clothes and stuff today and I need your help. I don't know where to take her."

She squealed, "Shopping! Okay, meet me at the main entrance to the mall in like an hour."

"Okay, see you then."

"See you there."

"Bye."

Hanging up, I walked back into the living room. "We have an hour until we need to meet Garcia at the mall. Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"_Olive Garden?"_

I smiled and grabbed my keys, "Okay, come on."

Megan got up, keeping the whiteboard with her. It wasn't until we were almost to Olive Garden when Megan wrote something on her board. I glanced at it when we came to a red light. _"Am I going to order using my whiteboard?"_

"We can try that, but it if doesn't work, I can order for you."

"_Okay."_

**~Small Time Jump~**

"Well, that was an interesting lunch." I commented as we got in the car.

Megan nodded, _"It was like there had never had someone that couldn't talk in there before."_

I chuckled, "Yeah. Oh, before we get to the mall, I should probably tell you that Garcia and I have a weird relationship. We're really good friends, but we always joke around when we're talking to each other. Like calling each other weird pet names and stuff." I saw the weird look I was getting and sighed. "You'll when we get there."

Megan raised and eyebrow but nodded anyways.

**So that's it. I won't be able to post another chapter until this summer because I don't get on the computer much at my dad's house and I won't be back to my mom's house until the end of June because of a mission's trip I'm going on when school gets out. **

**I didn't know what kind of dog Clooney was so I randomly picked one.**

**If you've read my other stories, could you give me some ideas on what should happen? I'm stuck on them. Thanks.**

**Cap't Mo**


End file.
